The traditional implantable cardiac pacemaker includes a pulse generator device to which one or more flexible elongate lead wires are coupled. The device is typically implanted in a subcutaneous pocket, remote from the heart, and each of the one or more lead wires extends therefrom to a corresponding electrode, coupled thereto and positioned at a pacing site, either endocardial or epicardial. Mechanical complications and/or MRI compatibility issues, which are sometimes associated with elongate lead wires and well known to those skilled in the art, have motivated the development of cardiac pacing systems that are wholly contained within a relatively compact package for implant in close proximity to the pacing site, for example, within the right ventricle (RV) of the heart. With reference to FIGS. 1A-B, such a system 100 is illustrated, wherein pace/sense electrodes 111, 112 are formed on an exterior surface of a capsule 101 that hermetically contains a pulse generator 103 (shown in FIG. 1B via a block diagram). FIG. 1A further illustrates tine members 115 mounted to an end of capsule 101, in proximity to electrode 111, in order to secure electrode 111 against the endocardial surface of RV, and electrode 112 offset distally from electrode 111. Capsule 101 is preferably formed from a biocompatible and biostable metal such as titanium overlaid with an insulative layer, for example, medical grade polyurethane or silicone, except where electrode 112 is formed as an exposed portion of capsule 101. An hermetic feedthrough assembly (not shown), such as any known to those skilled in the art, couples electrode 111 to pulse generator 103 contained within capsule 103.
With further reference to FIGS. 1A-B, those skilled in the art will appreciate that system 100, via electrodes 111, 112, has the capability to sense intrinsic ventricular depolarization (i.e. R-waves) and, in the absence of the intrinsic depolarization, to apply stimulation pulses to the RV in order to create paced ventricular depolarization. Pulse generator 103 of system 100 further includes rate response sensor 135 that monitors a patient's general level of physical activity to determine an appropriate pacing rate for the patient. Examples of suitable rate response sensors include, without limitation, a force transducing sensor, such as a piezoelectric crystal like that described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,378 Anderson et al.; an AC or DC accelerometer like those described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,957 to Sheldon; and any type of physiological sensor known in the art, such as those that measure minute ventilation, QT intervals, blood pressure, blood pH, blood temperature, blood oxygen saturation etc. Numerous cardiac pacing methods that employ such RV pacing and sensing and physical activity monitoring are known in the art, for example, as disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,378 (to Anderson et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,005 (to Casavant et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,859 (to Stroebel et al.), as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,281 (to Kristall et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,546 (to Sholder et al.). Many of the aforementioned disclosures address the desire to limit the amount of pacing stimulation delivered from implantable pacemakers, particularly right ventricular stimulation in patients that have intact AV conduction (through the AV node, from the sinus node in the right atrial wall to the right and left bundle branches in the ventricular septum), in order to preserve the patient's natural conduction and increase pacemaker efficiency. However, the relatively more sophisticated pacing methods that are geared toward preserving the patient's natural conduction rely upon dual chamber sensing as these methods were developed in concert with the evolution of pacemaker systems from single chamber to dual chamber. Thus, there is a need for new cardiac pacing methods that preserve natural conduction and increase system efficiency for single chamber implantable pacing systems, of either the traditional type or the relatively compact type, like that shown in FIGS. 1A-B.